Summary : In the present state of contemporary knowledge, one recognizes a certain "astrological
phenomenon". Apparently, an order exists which underlies the world and
may be experienced through the perusal of our birth chart, the latter reflecting
the fathomless structures of our interiority. Nonetheless, with the emergence
of scientific thought three centuries ago, astrology was met with new difficulties
as it tried to coexist with novel approaches to apprehending the "real".
In fact, the very validity of astrology is repudiated by those who conceive
of a sole level to reality (which they believe science to reveal) even
though physics has recently proved the existence of at least two levels
to reality. As a reaction, astrology closes itself off to scientific discourse,
or, conversely, dresses itself up as a science. In an attempt to sort through
the conflicts between science and astrology, this article explores the
unconscious foundations which gave birth to astrology. It draws from what
C.G. Jung called the symbolic function and originates in the "place"
of the soul where mind and matter may potentially reunite.

The impasse over scientific astrology

Surveys conducted over the past several years
prove that the belief in astrology is increasing [1]
despite repeated attempts on the part of skeptical movements to show the
inconsistency of astrological thought as opposed to scientific experience.
From the perspective of physics or biology, such inconsistencies are easily
detected. The principal anti-astrological arguments have not fundamentally
changed since Ptolemy and are regularly trotted out today. However, without
rehashing these eternal arguments like that of the equinox precession,
it is child's play to reveal the absurdity of the astrological word next
to the laws that science has illuminated. Thus, one may easily conclude
that if people continue to believe in the effect of the planets or zodiac
signs on their character, qualities, flaws, behavior, and even future,
it must be that the concerns of astrology are situated outside the field
of science.

Before trying to clarify the ways in
which astrology may be considered today, it is essential to emphasize its
origin. Astrology emerged from a most ancient and harmonious model which
dominated occidental culture for centuries up to the inception of modern
times. This global vision governed all universal phenomena by several simple
and rational principles. In particular, the planets, or "wandering stars",
the moon, and the sun were animated, even divine beings, whose movements
inscribed concentric, interlocking spheres that formed a protective shell
around the earth. Everything between the Earth and the stars' fixed limit
constituted a living being based on a system of correspondence, sympathy
and harmony. The visible phenomena of nature were entangled with invisible
forces. Reality included both the natural and the supernatural. The inner
order of an individual mirrored that of the sky while being subjected to
the restrictions of the sublunar realm of generation and corruption. The
moral and physical constitution of a given individual, as well as the pathological
predisposition of his temperament, depended on the state of the sky and
the mutual relations between the planets at the moment of his birth.

At the beginning of the XVII century,
this system of thought was contradicted by new phenomena which could not
be integrated into the previous vision of the world. A novel mode of thinking
emerged, defined with a mechanistic conception of knowledge and symbolized
by the clock and automaton. Nature became an immense machine - a notion
which would influence all areas of thought. The brilliant success of mechanistic
science relegated astrology to oblivion until the end of the XIX century.
Today, regardless of renewed popularity and attacks by skeptics, astrology
barely interests scientists beyond historical curiosity about another of
science's errors.

However, with the emergence of a new
physics which has called into question the mechanistic conception of a
universal machine, the limits of rationality have suddenly burst. Today,
we are witnessing an intellectual revolution in which the old dualities
of body vs. mind and soul vs. matter no longer have the same meaning. In
particular, quantum physics has found evidence of a mysterious indivisibility
of matter - better known as non-locality. The enigmatic nature of
non-locality stems from its opposition to classical physics by which the
world may be understood through its division into minuscule parts such
as molecules, atoms, and nuclei. This latter approach reaps results when
one ignores the intimate texture of things, turning a blind eye to a particle's
level of reality as translated in the infinitely small figure of Planck's
constant. At this minuscule level, one must use a new form of physics,
namely quantum physics. Quantum physics reveals the non-separable nature
of matter and thereby presents its ultimate indivisibility. As a conclusive
experiment has shown, the separation in space of two previously united
particles fails to truly divide the particles, for they remain in instantaneous
correlation with each other. In fact, the measurement of one particle significantly
affects the other, as if unity perseveres even at great distances. Since
this correlation is instantaneous, it cannot be explained by an interaction
propagated at the speed of light which, at 300,000 km/s, still takes a
certain amount of time.

The above-mentioned experiment leads
to the conclusion that each point in the universe is connected to all other
points at the quantum level. Such a phenomenon seems reminiscent
of the universal interdependence described by the ancients and by which
all parts of the universe are in sympathy - a concept mirrored in astrology's
insistence on universal interdependence. Some, ignoring the conditions
of validity of this non-locality, have unfortunately used the experiment
to affirm that the new data brought forward by modern science grants astrology
a scientific dimension. Leaping at this opportunity, others have even tried
to show that astrology is a science and elaborate on theories inspired
by physics or biology. As with the proponents of any new scientific theory,
one might ask them: "do you have proof of what you advance?" "Have you
observed phenomena or conducted experiments to verify your theory?" If
such is the case, these studies should be published in specialized reviews
and subjected to the analysis and criticism of scientists. Micro and macro
cultural and natural rhythms have undergone this process and are now recognized
as examples of veritable scientific research.[2]
The submission of its theories to experimentation and observation, has
also allowed the recent discipline of chronobiology to become a science
which accounts for the cyclical determinism of geocosmic phenomena. In
the same spirit, recent conferences were presented with works that demonstrate
the influence of the lunar and solar cycles on humans.[3]
The belated interest in this type of phenomenon on the part of the scientific
community is partially due to a perceived relationship with astrology which
casts studies in a negative light. Here, the great scientist Galileo may
serve as an example to skeptics. In the XVII century, Galileo refused to
consider any possible effect of the moon on the earth's tides, relegating
such speculation to the realm of astrology as opposed to that of science.
Today, of course, no one would deny the effect of the moon on tides and
numerous other earthly phenomena.

To the extent that they respect the scientific
method, works which aim to elucidate correlation or causal links between
the cosmos and human beings are valuable, even if they are inspired by
astrological motivations. But by no means should they be confused with
astrology. What then may they prove? Quite simply that the laws of physics,
chemistry and biology function when applied to geocosmic phenomena. This
approach stands in great contrast to the attitude of astrology's defenders
who champion their theories with an absolute lack of proof. Such apologists
only serve to further confuse a world so adrift in fragmented knowledge
that it has become extremely difficult to reflect on the conditions of
validity and the significance of one's own discipline.

Those who are inclined to believe in
astrology are, to some extent, comforted by the proof-less theories peddled
by many of its adherents. In fact, their tactics are far from limited to
the astrological milieu. Faced with a public that is fond of fascinating
theories which push the limits of space, matter, and time farther and farther,
certain researchers go spinning out of control. Their theories introduce
notions like the soul and the psyche which science did away with in the
course of its development. Of course, such reintroductions into the modern
scientific method explain everything relating to mind and matter. While
these scientists are ignored or upbraided by their colleagues, their aura
is celebrated among astrology's amateur public. Science has been burdened
with a negative connotation since the Second World War. Thus, being an
object of reproach in the scientific world may reward one with a certain
amount of sympathy. Take, for example, the physicist Jean Charon who is
esteemed for his writings [4]
and whose work on relativity was revered by his peers. Later, Charon came
to endow the electron with a soul. In the same vein and with a greater
connection to astrology, the biologist Etienne Guillé began by the
observation and scientific analysis of metal traces susceptible to fixation
on DNA. These same metals were traditionally linked to the seven planets.
Subsequently, Guillé defined "vibratory energies" with frequencies
that are measured by a pendulum.[5]
Regrettably, no scientific publication mentions Guillé's theories
nor any associated experiments or observations by which they might have
been proven. Moreover, it is questionable that experimental protocols could
ever be conceived of allowing for the objective observation of an electron's
spiritual properties or the vibratory energies of DNA. Objection might
also be raised over falsifiability or the economy principle by which arbitrary
and useless entities must not be introduced in a theoretical model. In
any case, it is clear that such theories may be those of philosophy or
metaphysics, but certainly not of science.

Other attempts to prove astrology have
adopted a different tactic. Abandoning the research of celestial influence
and causality, some use statistics to show a correlation between the state
of the sky on an individual's chart and his comportment. The skeptical
movements, sometimes in collaboration with astrological associations, are
especially fond of this approach. In every case, the results have invalidated
any astral influence on human personality or destiny. Numerous examples
of this type of experimentation may be found in "The Skeptical Inquirer".[6]
Astrological journals and conferences include a plethora of works which
attempt to link a case of alcoholism with the configurations of the planet
Neptune or an example of genius and aspects of the planet Uranus. As these
studies are rarely based on more than fifteen cases, they have no statistical
value. Furthermore, they are never placed in the hands of experts for a
first and second assessment. While lacking in depth, such works manage
to cloud the issues and furnish astrology with a falsely scientific dimension.

At this point, we might turn to two recently
scrutinized studies that seem to move towards the verification of astrology.
Madame Suzel Fuzeau-Braesch, research director at France's National Center
for Scientific Research, has demonstrated that 238 pairs of twins with
nearly identical charts, but for their ascendants, display behavioral differences
which correspond to the meanings of their ascendants. Out of 238 responses,
these studies reveal 153 which are favorable to astrology.[7]
Henri Broch, physics professor at the University of Nice, has exposed myriad
deficiencies in Fuzeau-Braesh's work, such as a dearth of numerous parameters,
a refusal on the part of the researcher to communicate precise information
on the procedures and statistical methods used, hypothetical births, and
so on.[8]

An analogous attempt, albeit on a larger scale,
was the work of Michel and Francoise Gauquelin. In 1955, these two researchers
attempted to show the link between the position of the planets at the moment
of birth and certain human traits. The most striking link studied was the
"Mars Effect" by which the position of the planet Mars at the moment of
birth would have an effect on athletic prowess. Almost thirty years later,
in 1981, The French Committee for the Study of Paranormal Phenomena, created,
among others, by Nobel laureate Alfred Kastler, worked with the Gauquelins
on the same problem.[9] This
succeeding study expanded on the original by enlarging the sample. It was
hence revealed that, by weeding their sample, the Gauquelins had managed
to find significant deviations from the standard. However, when the sample
was augmented by the CFEPP, the standard deviations vastly diminished,
tending towards zero. Once again, the polemic over the Gauquelins' work
is not resolved and studies continue to be carried out. For instance, Suitbert
Ertel, psychology professor at the University of Göttingen, has shown
that the Mars Effect increases with an athlete's eminence.[10]

In the anticipation of further studies
based on the above mentioned works, one might concede that they seem to
corroborate a particular relationship between celestial phenomena and the
personalities of certain human beings. Nonetheless, one cannot fail to
note the weak results in favor of astrology: only 153 affirmative responses
out of 238 in the twins study. Those who have truly contemplated astrology
and examined their birth map will recognize that, in the deepest regions
of their interiority, astrology is "true." The sensation of psychic coincidence
experienced with regard to the universe has been present since the dawn
of time and has failed to be eradicated by three centuries of scientific
materialism. An astrological phenomenon does exist and the birth chart
reflects the deepest fathoms of the human soul. Why then does this phenomenon
not find substance in statistical studies?

The Reality of the Symbol

It must be concluded that astrology is
not easily captured by statistic's coarse nets but rather should be perceived
in relation to our interiority. Astrology moves in the realm of a more
subtle reality, far from that studied by natural science. The latter refuses
ambiguity - a rejection which is patent in classical physics. But, as will
later be discussed, even as quantum physics reveals dualities such as that
of the wave and the particle, the act of measurement leads to the manifestation
of a unique, well defined event. Modern science finds its roots in the
rupture with the use of ambivalent logic like that manifested in astrology
and in the myths of archaic thought. However, in the most profound core
of our psyche, we feel the presence of contradicting forces. Most of the
astrological texts underline this ambivalence in the interpretation of
symbols. To take an example from Sun sign astrology, Valéry Giscard
d'Estaing, former president of the republic, well embodied the qualities
associated with his sign, Aquarius. From the moment he took office, he
was an innovator, walking down the Champs-Elysées, visiting prisoners,
meeting with refuse collectors, and spending time with ordinary people
in their homes. But the values of his opposing sign, that of Leo, were
also very apparent in Giscard d'Estaing. For example, he admired Louis
XV and the tradition of the royal hunt. He reintroduced the ancient custom
of the kings of France, insisting that no one sit opposite him during meals.
And of course, one might refer to the former president's admiration for
Bokassa's diamonds. Such contradictory aspects of an individual cannot
be rendered by statistics which separate opposing terms and refuses to
include the aspects of one term in another. The science of statistics allows
the unveiling of real phenomena but remains limited to the objects of natural
science in which the notion of the soul has disappeared. If it were to
be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that the stars tend to determine
the destinies of high level athletes or the distinct characteristics of
twins, scientists would be obliged to take these phenomena into account
and integrate them into an already existing or new discipline. In any case,
it would be wise to avoid a new anti-astrology a priori like that
once mounted against Kepler's idea that the Moon influenced tides or Newton's
theory of remote forces which was reminiscent of alchemy. If, as with Kepler
and Newton, the studies of Fuzeau-Braesh and Ertel were confirmed, entire
sections of the scientific corpus would be cast in doubt, thus making way
for progress. However, in no way would such discoveries give astrology
a scientific label. At best, astrology would renew science. I will return to this
last possibility in an ensuing discussion of Kepler. Fortunately, the long
refined methodology of science allows us to see our world more and more
clearly, even permitting us to withdraw our projections. Whatever may evolve,
astrology will remain astrology, constantly returning to that subtle and
infinite reality even if the Mars Effect and the twin studies fall into
the realm of science.

In fact, the fine-spun reality of astrology
is that of the symbol. The proponents of a scientific astrology
often decry such an affirmation, declaring: "What? You say that astrology
is merely symbolic?" An inherent scorn for the symbol is revealed
in their offended protest. And so, something which, in the history of our
own culture and in many contemporary non-western cultures, constitutes
a reality as real as material reality, is downgraded to a blatantly inferior
standing. It is this rejection of the symbol which explains the current
exclusion of astrology by universities and cultured circles. If, in today's
word, astrology gains no acceptance as an authentic field of study, this
resistance is not simply due to the shameless exploitation of astrology
which can be observed throughout the media. Astrology's low standing is
more likely a result of the devaluation of the symbol over the past two
centuries. Obscured and diluted, the science of the symbol has become so
very enigmatic that it has lost its original sense and finds itself applied
to myriad elements such as traffic lights, logos, mathematical signs and
dream images. Hence today's difficulty in differentiating between the aspects
of astrology which fall into the field of natural science and the true
nature of astrology which is that of the symbol, existing on a transcendental
and metaphysical plane of essences.

Unfortunately, the social sciences disparage
astrology and limit their study to the perspectives of sociology, history
and ethnology. Nonetheless, rather than abandoning astrology to horoscope
charlatans, it is of interest to examine the causes for the field's current
resurgence. In other words, instead of letting astrology become a belief
and feeding the sterile debates between science and parascience, it seems
of greater interest to explore astrology's own reality. While astrology
cannot be a natural science, it can no better be a science like psychology.
The false conception of astrology as the equivalent of psychology is abetted
by the insistence on psychology which pervades contemporary culture. Fundamental
examples of such a tendency may be found in seminal works like The Astrology
of the Personality [11]
and From Psychoanalysis to Astrology.[12]
Astrologers are thus led to the false belief that astrology supplies conceptual
or practical tools that may be used in "astrotherapy". In reality, astrology
provides no conceptual tool like that generated, for example, by the founders
of psychoanalysis.

Astrology and Depth Psychology

To sum up, one might say that astrology
belongs to neither social science nor to natural science but, on the other
hand, may be the object of a science: a science of symbolic forms,
of religion or of the psyche. Today, an individual who looks into his astrological
chart or solicits its interpretation commits a psychological act. For his
part, Freud cast aside astrology and other "occult" disciplines, banishing
them to what he called "the black sludge of occultism". Jung, on the other
hand, believed that no element of human invention may be scorned, for everything
has a meaning in the overall schema of things. Today, what was once seen
as originating in the stars is now understood as a projection of the unconscious,
and astrology may be interpreted only from this psychological perspective.
Jung affirmed that the greater part of things considered psychic resided
in the animated matter of the universe: "Since the stars have fallen from
heaven and our highest symbols have paled, a secret life holds sway in
the unconscious. That is why we have a psychology today, and why we speak
of the unconscious. All this would be quite superfluous in an age or culture
that possessed symbols." [13]

Jung awarded a distinct and separate
reality to this interior world which he saw as having been projected onto
the outside world. He deserves credit for having empirically rediscovered
the soul of the world, comprised of the multiple gods of nature which he
called the collective unconscious or the objective psyche. For delving
into astrology and other "ghosts of centuries of imagination", Jung was
suspected of mysticism and even magic. However, he acted as a true scientist,
describing his methodology in the following manner: "I observe, I classify,
I establish relationships and sequential organization between observed
events, and I even show that prediction is possible. When I speak of the
collective unconscious, I do not present it as a principle, but rather
give a name to the totality of observable events, that is to say, archetypes." [14]

As Michel Cazenave explains [15]
, the clearest definition of the archetype is not that of an original image
nor of the condensation of archaic residues of some unconscious substance.
Instead, it is an empty form, an a priori form of perception, a
structure of the unconscious which emerges in the world of the senses and
remains hidden while taking form in archetypal images or symbols. Cazenave
mentions the objective kinship between archetypes and the forms of Lacan's
collective field as well as the empty but formative unconscious of Lévi-Strauss
and contemporary anthropology's works on kinship.

Like Freud, Jung solicited the empirical
method while rejecting an exclusively causal interpretation of psychic
phenomena. The latter are even more clearly oriented towards an end or
path to be followed which Jung called individuation or the fulfillment
of the "Self ": the archetype of human totality. With his bold hypothesis
of Synchronicity [16] ,
Jung suggested that certain aspects of reality which remain outside the
causal description of nature may be understood as synchronistic phenomena
without regressing towards archaic forms of magical causal thought.

Thus, by the light of Jung's work, the
planets and the zodiac signs are not archetypes, but rather archetypal
images or symbols. In astrology, Mars, Mercury, and Venus represent the
potentials of aggression, of initiative (Mars), of communication
(Mercury), and of love (Venus), inherent in us and which we project
onto those planets which seem to best incarnate these qualities. And the
feeling of psychic coincidence that we may have in relation to the universe
of our birth is not due to the physical influence of the planets, but instead
to the fact that we are born in synchronicity with the universe
of our birth. As Jung contended, "we are born at a given moment, in a given
place, and we have, like celebrated vintages the same qualities of the
year and of the season which saw our birth." [17]

Astrology and the potential unity of the world

Through his collaboration with the physicist
Wolfgang Pauli, Jung came to the conclusion that the unconscious is not
limited to the domain of psychology, but rather is related to the structures
of matter. Thus, matter and psyche are no longer two separate, antinomic
spheres. Their roots originate in a common original structure which Jung,
echoing the philosophers of the Middle Ages, called the unus mundus.
Astrology draws from this source. And science, through its roots, shares
the same soil. For, the real history of science reveals how its
founders worked from symbolic forms that rose from the unconscious.[18]
Kepler, father of new astronomy in the XVII century, was a devotee of astrology
- an aspect of his personality tagged by science's XIX century historians
as the "bad part". Nonetheless, new translations of Kepler's works [19]
reveal the integration of astrological symbols with his scientific research.
They were, in fact, intermingled. They guided Kepler towards groundbreaking
hypotheses which are the foundation of modern science. Newton, Kepler,
and all the great innovators of science needed the symbolism of alchemy
and astrology, or other elements, in order to invent. In any case, the
roots of science always originate outside of its own field. Thus, as they
are built upon a similitude between the unconscious psyche and the exterior
world, one might say that all scientific or religious attempts to order
chaos and mold reality are projections of the unconscious. Of course, science
does not confine itself to the level of vision. Instead, it puts into place
a process of discrimination and organization which, in physics, results
in laws that are expressed by mathematical language. The human mind tends
to seize these visions as if they were eternal truths, but the moment comes
when observed events no longer coincide with a given vision or hypothesis
and no longer correspond with the relevant scientific theory or model.
At this moment, we recognize them as projections and the hypothesis in
question must be abandoned for new approaches.

So science, like astrology, is a projection
by the unconscious onto the unknown. The knowledge of the unconscious is
an unknowing knowledge which Jung described as a "cloud of knowledge" and
named "absolute knowledge". Only at this level of the unconscious' absolute
knowledge, where the potential unity of the universe lies, are science
and astrology one and the same thing. It is when man or mankind become
aware of the knowledge of the unconscious, that symbolic forms, scientific
concepts and physical laws can be generated. But, at this stage, a new
level of reality emerges - that of developed manifestation. Here, religious
systems find their uniqueness and scientific disciplines are defined. Here
appears the distinction between archetypal forms and the empty forms
of archetypes. According to Jung, archetypes, the nuclei of the
unconscious, cannot be perceived by the conscious but rather are empty
matrices which the conscious fills with the particulars of a dream or the
elements of a distinct culture. Hence the absurdity of debates about the
validity of such and such an astrological system and especially about the
equinoctial precession. For roughly 2000 years, the Western world has used
the mobile zodiac of signs because it best incarnates the constantly
changing occidental way of life. At this level of manifestation,
it is therefore an illusion to seek unity between the different systems
of astrology or to seek a relation between science and astrology. Hence,
the need to have a vertical vision of reality.

Recognizing the existence of different levels of reality

Today's scientific spirit is slowly abandoning
a strictly materialistic conception of the world and accepting the reality
of a world outside immediate reality. Aside from Jung and the physicist
Pauli, numerous researchers, physicists, and philosophers of science have
come to the hypothesis of a transcendental field, such as that in the implicate
order of David Bohm [20]
, the veiled real of Bernard d'Espagnat [21]
, and the subquantum field of Ervin Laszlo.[22]
The paradox is that physics, which in the positivist XIX century wanted
to explain everything on a sole and unique level, has been obliged to consider
at least two different levels of reality:

- The reality of macroscopic objects
of every day life, governed by the Aristotelian view of identity, non-contradiction
and of the excluded middle. In other words, a table is a table and not
a chair.

- The reality of quantum objects, already
evoked in regards to the phenomenon of non-locality, which is the expression
of the universe as a certain, indivisible totality. If we try to understand
the behavior of these objects by the means of classical logic, we find
ourselves in a labyrinth of paradox. Such is the case of light which was
first interpreted as a corpuscle and then, with the XIX century wave theory
as a wave, until the emergence of quanta theory in 1930. Since then, we
have envisioned light as being made up of novel entities that are both
wave and particle. Thus, classical logic, based on the principle
of identity, non-contradiction and the excluded middle, must cede its place
to the logic of the included middle. This included middle reveals another
level of reality where that which appears disunited and contradictory (wave
or particle) is perceived as united and non-contradictory. Certain
physicists cannot make room for this concept. Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond
compares the situation to that of the first explorers who, once disembarked
in Australia, "perceived in the streams where they sought gold, strange
beasts with beaks and fur which they baptized 'duckmoles.' The Aborigines
already had a name for the animal: 'mallingong' (or boondaburra). Unfortunately,
this name was replaced by the heavy and scholarly 'ornithorhynchus' (or
'platypus' for the Anglo-Saxons) since the creature was not the combination
of a duck and mole, but rather a newly discovered being. Similarly, the
physicist who manipulates light with his instruments and describes it in
equations sees that in neither case is light wave or particle nor
sometimes one and sometimes the other, as is too often said ".[23]
We therefore move to a new level of deeper reality where identity, non-contradiction
and the excluded middle simultaneously disappear.

It is in the framework of these new epistemological
landscapes opened by quantum physics that one may situate astrology and
determine its eventual connection to science. For this, a new rationality
must come into effect - an open rationality which permits dialogue between
differing sciences and inner experience. This new approach is taking form
under the name transdisciplinarity. The name touches upon the two
meanings of the prefix trans: that which is beyond all disciplines
and that which traverses all possible disciplines. Article 3 of
the Transdisciplinarity Charter specifies that "transdisciplinarity complements
the disciplinary approach. Out of the dialogue between disciplines it produces
new results and new interactions between them. It offers a new vision of
nature and reality. Transdisciplinarity does not seek a mastery in several
disciplines but aims to open all disciplines to what they have in common
and to what lies beyond their boundaries." [24]

Science, with its protocols, demands,
and specific means of existence, operates on a completely different level
than that of the mind-inspired quest for innerness embodied by astrology.
Each decode the same potential unity of the real while working from
differing levels of being. In his vast inquiry into the relationship between
science and the soul, Michel Cazenave distinguished a hierarchy of four
levels of existence between ourselves and Being, helping to demonstrate
where and how science and astrology are profoundly united yet totally distinct.

1- The beings or entities : level of
the psychology of the conscious and of phenomena that are relatively separate,
and studied by classical macroscopic physics. Here dwells the excluded
middle (a is a and not b). For example, Mars is the
planet Mars and not the planet Venus.
2- TheTotality of being : level
of the total psyche personified in an individual, of phenomenal relativist
physics and phenomenal quantum physics. Particular entities originate from
these actual globalities.
3- The plane of Being: realm of the
potential totality of the objective transcendental psyche, of the
unus mundus, of the real at the roots of quantum physics where paradoxes
and complementary pairs are found (conscious-unconscious, wave-particle).
The associated logic is that of the included middle (a is at the
same time a and b). It is also the place of archetypes and
astrological symbols which may signify one thing as well as its opposite.
For example, the symbol Mars may be manifest both in the destructive behavior
of a serial killer and in the healing hands of a surgeon.
4- The Being: unknowable and imparticipable,
beyond all contradiction and all identity as a is neither a
nor b.[25]

Astrology, like any symbolic art, draws on
the last two levels of the above structure where the objective psyche and
matter coincide in their potential unity. Science, for its part,
only deals in separate, multiple and actualized objects from
the first two levels. But, as Cazenave insists, these four levels are mirrored
in each other, the last referring to the first.

The Zodiac as a mirror of the Being and as a reading grid

Thus, while neither astrology nor archetypes
can be explained by science, we may perceive reflections
of astrology in science. Some contend that the future may therein be deciphered.
However, with the exception of certain works in mundane astrology, one
might safely say that most astrological predictions would come out false
if exhaustive studies were conducted. The supposed accuracy of certain
predictions thus lies in simple statistical odds. If isolated national
and world events, such as the changing of a government majority or the
fall of the soviet block, have been successfully predicted, this accuracy
most likely stems from the predictor's sense of history and geopolitics.
Astrology does play its part, but only as a resonance on the grid of possibilities
that makes up the infinite game of "astrological aspects".

Apparently, the solitude which often
accompanies power leads certain heads of state to surround themselves with
astrologers. We may only hope that their official advisors adopt the scientific
methods of futurology which, while less poetic and spectacular, are better
adapted to the modern world. For everything dealing with projections on
the future prior to the astrology/astronomy split may be found today in
scientific predictions. In fact, one of science's roles is to predict the
future while specifying the limits of this predictive power. Astrology
should no longer attempt to assume such a role. In fact, one might note
that neither the founders of psychoanalysis nor contemporary therapists
have encouraged predictive practices. The unconscious knowledge of absolute
knowledge that resides in the deepest layers of the psyche allows one to
"fly over time". In fact, this knowledge is out of time or moreover, it
is distributed throughout all dimensions of time including the past and
the future. Nonetheless, it is a diffuse knowledge, not allowing
for the precise and exact description of a future event. One may simply
obtain the more or less beclouded image of emerging possibilities which
Marie-Louise von Franz calls the "quality of possible events".[26]
The use of astrology to meditate on the unconnected events of the past
in order to stitch them together and invest them with meaning remains valuable.
However, too much speculation about the future, can become detrimental
for it turns one's attention away from the here and now. This distances
astrology from its only possible meaning at the dawn of the XXI century:
to present us with the contradictions arising from the non-integrated aspects
of our personalities as reflected in the birth chart, and to permit a dialogue
with these contradictions, ultimately leading to the awareness of the Self
- the essential wholeness of our psyche.

On another plane, astrology is called
the "mother of the sciences". One might imagine that astrology's rich symbolic
structure could inspire science to elaborate new tools, aimed at the exploration
of the constantly elusive aspects of the real. As Jung contended, archetypes
carry out an overall movement known as circumambulatio.[27]
By this, he means that they rotate around the central archetype, the Self
- orchestrator of the overall organization. The zodiac of the 12 signs
is a mandala (symbol of the totality) which perfectly illustrates
the wheel of archetypes. It is harmoniously structured by the numbers and
principally by the numbers four (the elements of fire, earth, air and water)
and three (the qualities which are cardinal, fixed and mutable). In fact,
it can be considered as a rich reading grid that uses a potential conceptual
language, a sort of "qualitative mathematics". Thanks to its square and
opposition features, the circular structure of the zodiac allows for both
a diachronic and synchronic reading. Well before it permitted the delineation
of an individual or collective narrative, astrology was perceived by the
ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, and Islamic traditions as the reflection
of creation and the evolution of the world. Before anything else, astrology
is therefore cosmogony. Today, scientific cosmology brandishes proof to
show that the universe has a history. The universe had a beginning, will
have an end, and by certain interpretations, is susceptible to cyclical
evolution. Remarkably, the different stages of this history match the meanings
behind the twelve signs of the zodiac.[28]
As new cosmological theories lose footing in the approach towards time
zero, the zodiacal structure may clarify certain relationships, perhaps
leading to a new scientific approach to the singularity of the universe's
origin. Of course, this use of astrology must not confuse the manifested
totalities studied by science with the potential totality illustrated by
the zodiac.

The truth of astrology

Those who attempt to prove astrology through
science perpetuate the early century belief of Bertrand Russell for whom
"the only truth is science". This scientific vision of truth is a prolongation
of the traditional conception of truth which has dominated occidental thought
since Aristotle. For this philosopher, "true discourse is similar to things"
(De Interpretatione). The same concept then returned during the
Middle-Ages when Aquinas insisted that truth is adequacy and in Descartes'
conception that truth equals certitude because it guarantees rectitude,
an accord with the represented object. More recently, Kant mirrored Aristotle
when he wrote that "it is only by judgment, in other words, by the relationship
of an object to our understanding, that one finds truth and error".[29]

Astrology's truth cannot be defined by
these philosophers' terms. The individual who meditates on his planetary
blueprint does find adequacy between the representation of the universe
at his moment of birth and his inner life. But, as far as astrology is
concerned, this remains a correspondence of symbolic proportions.
And no symbolic system of interpretation is absolutely true, the symbol
being characterized by its polysemy and multivocal abundance. The symbol's
opaque language opens to infinite interpretations. Unlike scientific language
which seeks to explain and give account of natural phenomena, symbolic
language such as that of astrology demands interpretation and guides
us towards the core of our interiority. The natal chart is not a conventional
representation. It is a path of a hidden meaning, the meaning of a new
unity through which we merge with the archetypal structure of our very
being.

The truth of astrology is thus the truth
of the symbol. While another truth assumes adequacy of the thing, astrology's
truth belongs to the essence of Being. This is not a truth of agreement
but of unveiling, like that in Plato's cave. Plato and the neoplatonic
tradition gave truth this status and, during the Middle Ages, Saint Bonaventure
reflected a similar vision, meditating that truth "does not come from existing
matter, for matter is contingent, nor from its existence in the mind, as
this would be mere fiction if the thing were not truly present. Rather,
it ensues from the exemplary nature of the divine archetype which decides
the properties and the mutual sequence of all things based on the sketches
of eternal wisdom".[30]
This notion of an essential truth is found in Jung's process of individuation
through which man perceives his own, singular verity. And so unfolds the
truth of the Self which is also that found through meditating on one's
birth chart.

Ed. N.: This article was first published in Considerations (Issue 13.2: 1998).
Alain Nègre is a professor of Electronics at the University
of Grenoble. He is not an astrologer but has maintained a long and active interest in astrology.
You can contact him at Alain.Negre@ujf-grenoble.fr or write him at 16,
rue Jules Siegfried (38400 Saint Martin d'Hères, France). His book
Entre Science et Astrologie is available at S.P.M. (34, rue Jacques
Louvel Tessier, 75010 Paris) Tel. (33) 1 44 52 54 80 ; Fax (33) 1 44 52
54 82